Clothing and a Florentine style, 1550–1620

Abstract

This article addresses the links between Renaissance clothing and identity, focusing on the reigns of the first Medici grand dukes, a period when the political and social make‐up of the Florentine elite underwent profound changes. Drawing on a wide range of sources, from sumptuary legislation, court correspondence and family account books to tailors’ patterns, it examines different ways of thinking about and analysing dress styles. Taking the under‐explored subject of male dress, it concentrates on two specific clothing types: the traditional full‐length cloak, known as the lucco, worn by government office holders, and the liveries of the Medici courtiers. It concludes with the role played by local textile production, a vital aspect of Florentine culture as well as its economy. Although the Medici family's efforts to shape the dress of its subjects were partially successful, certain fundamental elements of the city's sartorial ethos resisted change.